A few questions

[Ramani]

At 08:42 PM 9/27/97 -0700, you wrote:
>A few questions for the Tamil/Kannada experts and Sinhalese history
>experts:
>1. Jaffna was originally called "yAzhppANam" in Tamil( hope my
>transliteration is correct) which translates as the "city of the lyre"
>(yAzh).How did it acquire its name i.e. I'm interested in the musical
>connection.

According to the legend, it is told that one blind singer (anthakak
kavi/pANaN) (named Veraragavan ?), played the yAzh in the court of the King
(don't know which kingdom and got Jaffna as the gift. Hence it is called
yAzh + pANaN's place = yAzhpANam.
yAzhpANavaipavamAlai may through more light, I think.

> How did the name Jaffna come about( was it the Portugese
>mispronounciation of the original Tamil word?)
Do not know.

>2. What was "Batticaloa" originally called in Tamil?
Still the Tamil name is maddakkiLappu aka maddu nagar; Do not know the
cause; But, this town is known for its 'singing fishes' (about which some
tried to prove scientifically as the sound due to some oysters'
biomechanism?); One word for oyster in Tamil is maddi; kaLappu/kiLappu is
from kaLam (field/living region/kuRichchi). Hence, I think (note it: it is
only my guess) it is called maddakkiLappu.

>(I'm assuming the
>original is a Tamil word, pls free to correct me if I'm wrong..the
>reason why I think this is true is because the Northern and
>North-Eastern Provinces are normally depicted as having been Tamil
>dominated) Trincomalee, I know was tirukkONAmalai....
Right; Again, myth says this as rAvaNan's capital; The legand for the root
of the name is,
Once AthisEshan and vAyu bahavAn wanted to test who the strongest; Then,
AthisEshan wrapped the mERu mountain by his body, and by his force vAyu
hurled three pieces; one is tirukkONamalai (aka tadshaNakailAyam), the other
two are thiruvaNNAmalai and thiruvAnaikkA (not sure of the third).


>Regards,
>Krishna

Find today a fine day.
Ramani